Texas A&M students win AABP Quiz Bowl Championship

The American Association of Bovine Practitioners (AABP) Student Quiz Bowl team from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM) won the national quiz bowl competition at the 46th Annual Conference of the AABP held in September in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The team members included third-year veterinary student Jayton Bailey, third-year veterinary student Bryan Weaver, and fourth-year student John David Nicholson, all recent former students of the Department of Animal Science.

Bailey received his master’s in animal science, Weaver earned a bachelor’s in animal science, and Nicholson, received both a bachelor’s and master’s in animal science.

(Left to Right) Jayton Bailey, John David Nicholson and Bryan Weaver

Teams from many North American veterinary schools competed in the tournament, with some entering more than one team, for 27 teams in total. Each team generally has four members, but the team from the CVM, even with only three members, won the entire competition for the first time since participating in the Quiz Bowl.

“We are proud of our students for winning, but not surprised they did,” said Dr. Eleanor M. Green, Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine at the CVM. “Their performance reflects the hard work, dedication, and commitment to learning. This win also reflects the quality and dedication of our outstanding food animal faculty, who prepared them for this competition, as they do for their veterinary careers. Congratulations to the team for earning this special award and for exemplifying the excellence in education for which Texas A&M University and our college are known. Where else but Texas, #1 in the nation in cattle? Where else but Aggieland?”

The format is a single elimination tournament with brackets that pits teams together to move on to the next round until a champion is determined. The teams sit on opposite sides of a table and each member has a buzzer to press when the question is answered.

“The questions asked during the competition were mainly in the areas of bovine medicine as well as beef and dairy production,” said Weaver. The first team to buzz in gets a chance to answer the question. If they miss the question, the other team has a chance to “steal”.

Over 200 conference attendees watched the final match between Texas A&M and Ohio State University. “The Texas Aggie team was down to the Buckeyes at one time by over 30 points and rallied back to win the competition,” said Dr. John Davidson, former CVM faculty member and AABP President-Elect.

“We are very proud of the students on the team and the faculty members who taught them in the classroom and coached them during their preparation,” said Dr. Allen Roussel, Professor and Head of the Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences. “In addition, I know that these young men were great representatives for Texas A&M University, not only as Quiz Bowl Champions but also as gentlemen and professionals.”

“This win represents many hours of hard work and study,” said Dr. Kevin Washburn, Associate Professor at the CVM and faculty advisor to the group, “and demonstrates how well our students retain the knowledge picked up from their formal training here at Texas A&M.”

Typically, the students that go to the conference from A&M are automatically on the Quiz Bowl team. The three members of this year’s team had varied reasons for attending the conference: Nicholson and Weaver were both student delegates, and Bailey was presenting a case.

“To be the first team from Texas A&M to win is really exciting,” Bailey said. “It was great to be able to represent A&M in this way.”

For more information regarding news from the Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, please contact Courtney Coufal at cacoufal@tamu.edu or (979) 845-1542.